Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Had some interesting patients.For one, had this guy with an LVAD. Left ventricular assist device. All you could hear when you auscultated his chest was the whirring of this bionic heart, keeping him alive until he could get something more permanent. He was actually able to go home (albeit with all the support hardware) for a few days before needing to come in again. Not that this would be a cure for cardiomyopathy. But just, sometimes what we're able to do in medicine is just impressive. What next? A bionic pancreas? After all, we already use insulin pumps for type 1 diabetes patients here. Implantable automated cardioverter/defibrillator? Already have that.

The other guy... was someone with cerebral palsy. I made a courtesy call to his primary doctor to let him know we admitted this guy for an infection."Ask him what day you were born on." Dr. Y told me, mysteriously.So I did. He asked me for my birthdate. And I told him."Saturday!" He told me. In all of 45 seconds. Mentally.Turns out, he has this gift with numbers. Amazing mathematical skills. My consultant's age was 43. And in 10 seconds he was able to tell us what the squared of that was (1849, and I had to use a calculator).

Mother Goose said in that poem of hers that 'Saturday's child works hard for a living...'

She's right.

On a personal note: Thanks for the messages in response to my earlier blog. I deleted it because I realized I was sharing more than I was willing to in a public domain. But I appreciate the notes of encouragement anyway.

About Me

A Malaysian endocrinologist, trained in a major academic center in USA, and now surviving in the world of practice after 12 years of training.
To maintain patient confidentiality, names, ages and genders have been altered (And some stories totally fabricated to fool gullible readers).
This site is not meant to provide medical advice or consultation.